Amid tourism boom, West Coast cities struggle with homeless problem
(Cleveland.com Plain Dealer)

On vacation in the Pacific Northwest last summer, I was unprepared for the pervasive homelessness in both Portland and Seattle: Men and women in sleeping bags and tents, in parks, under bridges, along the sidewalks. I had read about the cities` struggles, a function, primarily, of skyrocketing housing costs. But reading about it and witnessing it are two different things.